Improvement in postage and revenue stamps



EEICE.

PATENT WILLIAM C. WYCKOFF, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN POSTAGE AND REVENUE STAMPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 53,723, dated April 3, 1866.

To all 'whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM C. WYcKoEE, of the city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Postage and Revenue Stamps; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forming a part of this specification.

The said drawings illustrate my invention by a face view, Figure l and enlarged section, Fig. 2, of the proposed stamp.

It is alleged, and with good reason, that eX- tensive frauds are committed against the Government by persons removing from letters, envelopes, wrappers, document-ary papers, Ste., postage and revenue stamps that have once been used, and that these stamps, after being cleaned by certain processes which are simple and effective, unless, indeed, they should, through oversight, have escaped cancellation, are used again or sold at a discount for use by others who are not cognizant of the fraud practiced, inasmuch as it is represented to such persons that the stamps came singly and in disconnected states as remittances for subscriptions to papers, &c. Thus the stamps that have once beenused are sold readily, and the Government, it. is supposed, suffers considerably by such frauds.

The object of my invention is to prepare the paper on which the stamp is to be printed in such mannerthat a stamp cannot be removed from an envelope or whatever it has been attached to by the process ot' wetting,

" steaming, or soaking 5 and to this end my invention consists in coating the side of the paper on which the printing is to be done with a surface of water-color pigment or paint, or some sufficiently opaque surface to receive a good impression, and be at the same time quickly soluble in water or other iiuid.

As one means of carrying out myinvention, I prepare sheets of paper, which it is not essential to have as thick as the ordinary paper used for stamps, and spread over or paint the surface of the paper on the side which is to receive the impression of the plate an opaque water-color pigment or paint. This can be done by very simple machinery or by hand, such pigment or paint being prepared by the method usual and long known in what are called water-colors, and consisting ot' the admixture with the coloring-matter of some adhesive substance to hold it together. The color I propose to use as the surface to receive the design may be m ade in variousways-forinstan ce, oxide of zinc, which, when it is in the condition of water-color, is known in the market as Chinese whiteL-or indeed pipe-clay (alumina) may be used with good effect, as it can be spread evenly for the purpose and furnishes a smooth surface and receives the impression well.

The stamp thus prepared can be used as any ordinary stamp, and it is to be used in the same way, and it accomplishes the end sought, as it can under no circumstance be removed from whatever it has been attached to by soaking or wetting, for the moment the surface comes in contact with water or other tluid the stamp becomes defaced and is consequently destroyed. Hence in using such stamps there would be no necessity of canceling the same. Therefore it isnot only applicable to postage-stamps, but also to revenuestamps, many ot' which latter are used without being canceledas proprietary stamps, for instance; and it' such stamps are properly stuck to the article it would be impossible to remove them, and indeed it is believed that many revenue-stamps are removed by soaking or wetting the checks, notes, or other articles on whicli they are placed, and used again, and the fact of their previous cancellation is not noticed.

I am aware of the existence of a patent granted to Henry Lowenberg for self-canceling stamps; and I wish here to remark that my invention differs from his in very important particulars. It will be understood thatI do not require or wish transparency of paper or material on which to print, but, on the contrary, I leave the paper in its natural opaque condition and add to it some opaque soluble substance, for the reason that it is very difficult to obtain a good impression upon a glazed surface, or indeed upon any glutinous surface. Stamps made thereby are impracticable for ordinary use, aside from the above disadvantage in printing, for the reason that they are either sticky or too brittle, the latter being :t great fault. Hence, to make such stamps on im extensive scale, as does the Government,

is irnpracticable. The preparation ot the material in n. state ready for the iinpression is exceedingly expensive, the material receives the impression poorly, the sheets of stamps when printed are apt to stick together or break in pieces, and indeed much time would be consumed in the mere matter of handling and countingl sheets ot such stamps, and there would be some difficulty in counting them accurately; and these are no inconsiderable items, as is Well known to those who do engraving and printing for the Governnient. Itheret'ore wishit distinctly understood that I ley no claim to Mr. Lowenbergs inven- 

